In the previous day's trade, markets worldwide were on edge following news that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile which had passed over Japan. However, investor nervousness around North Korea appears to have eased.

This comes as President Donald Trump issued a statement which said that "all options are on the table" when it comes to its relationship with North Korea going forward.

"The world has received North Korea's latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior," Trump said in a statement.

Companies added 237,000 positions for the last full month of summer, well ahead of the 185,000 that economists surveyed by Reuters expected.

Total mortgage application volume decreased 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications are now down nearly 25 percent compared with a year ago, largely due to the lack of homeowners refinancing their loans.